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Don’t dumb down my TEKKEN

Tekken Revolution is a free digital title exclusively for the PS3. Revolution has brought several changes to that of Tekken6 and Tekken Tag 2. Bounds have been removed completely and super arts and RPG elements have been added. The question is does Tekken really need this?

While I’ve previously voiced my distaste for such changes alot of Tekken fans have praised the game for being less of a “juggle-fest” and even preferring Revolution to Tekken Tag 2. They claim to see Tekken Revolution as a return to the old-school Tekken 5-era formula. Needlessly to say, I do not agree. Revolution seems like a dumbed-down Tekken to me to be honest.

Tekken Complaining

In recent years, a lot of Tekken fans have fell out of love with the series due to the increasing emphasis on jugging. Common complaints such as “Tekken is nothing but a juggle-fest” have been a dime a dozen. This started from Tekken 6which is what introduced the Bound feature. The bound allows a player to smash a mid-air opponent into the ground during a combo in order to continue that combo.

Admittedly, in Tekken 6 and even more in Tag 2, combos can be quite lengthy and it can be demoralizing when on the receiving end of a lengthy juggle so I understand where these complaints are coming as I was once in that camp. But something changed. The game didn’t change; I changed. I learnt how to play the game…properly.

A bound move smash a mid-air opponent to the ground allowing or longer combos. This hasn’t sat well with a number of fans.

Online play, which first came in Tekken 6, opened up a big can of worms. For the first time people got to show off their Tekken skills against other across the world and very quickly a lot of these same people realized that they were not as good as they thought they were. The interweb has taught me that a lot of people would sooner bitch and discredit a game, tagging it as “cheap”, rather than actually try to get better at it.

Tekken online matches can ruthless online between a casual player and a serious one. More often than not in matches the round starts with someone getting hop-kicked and two juggles later the round is over. Tekken can do that..if you let it. Tekken Revolution removes the bound feature juggles are shorter because of it. So will this give less players more of a chance right…..

Tekken doesn’t need invincible moves. It’s need to provide players more information of how it’s to be played.

Knowledge is Tekken

Wrong! Players who don’t know the fundamentals of Tekken are always going to get bodied by a better player. The funny thing is you don’t even start off a juggle combo with bound; it’s only extends them; meaning players that fall for the same frame traps and hop kicks at the start of the round in Tekken Tag will still fall for the same frame traps and hop kicks in Revolution.

I am not for the idea of dumbing down Tekken at all. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is one of the best fighting games out there and not alot needs to be changed. If anything a greater effort by Namco needs to be made for the fundamentals of Tekken to be taught and learnt. Fight Lab was a good effort but more can be done. They need to explain when and why we’re are doing these moves; not just how to do them.

Frame Data and knowing when to use certain moves are important things to know about. I can’t stress that enough. In what situation should I use a launcher? In what situation should I do a simple jab? While I understand the need to cater to more causal audiences it also needs to be done in a way that doesn’t hamper the quality of the game. Capcom didn’t exactly handled this well. Street Fighter X Tekken’s simplified combo system hurt character individuality, and made the game repetitive and boring and inferior to both the franchise it represented.